To the outside observer, it seems like they’ve won the career lottery—that by some stroke of luck or circumstance, they’ve found the one thing they love so much that it doesn’t even feel like work, and they’re getting paid well to do it.

In reality, their good fortune has nothing to do with chance. There’s a method for finding your perfect job, and Chris Guillebeau, the bestselling author of The $100 Startup, has created a practical guide for how to do it—whether within a traditional company or business, or by striking out on your own.

I had really high expectations for Born for This by Chris Guillebeau. As someone who changed their major four or five times during college and now after two jobs post-college, still doesn’t know what she wants to do, I hoped this book would help bring me clarity. I’ve read quite a few blogs on the topic, and more than a healthy number of The Muse articles. Unfortunately, I didn’t find many new pieces of advice in this book.

Guillebeau stresses the importance of the “Joy-Money-Flow” model - to find happiness in a job, we need to find work that makes us happy, provides enough money, and maximizes our unique skills. While it isn’t a completely revolutionary theory, it does provide some food for thought. As I continued through the book, I found this pattern continued: the stories and advice were sound, yet oversimplified and generic.

The section I was most interested in reading is the one about creating a side hustle - or a way to make money outside of your day job. While he provides some good questions to think through, I don’t think enough framework is provided to actually execute a side hustle. In the “19 Days to Hustle” list, days 10-11 are:

Why couldn’t those be on the same day?! I don’t mean to nitpick, but those were the types of oversimplifications that made it difficult for me to take the advice in this book too seriously.

In the end, I didn’t feel like I walked away with a renewed sense of purpose. Maybe that’s because I’ve done so much research on my own in the past? I’m not sure. I do think this book is worth picking up from your local library if you feel lost in your career or want to maximize your impact in your current role.

Rating: 2/5

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review*